Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office unveiled three proposed rules to implement a new law designed to keep children off social media platforms. A key focus of the law is the contentious issue of age verification.
Set to take effect on January 1, the law aims to prevent children under 16 from creating social media accounts on certain platforms.
However, it allows parents to consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts, while children under 14 are completely prohibited from opening accounts.
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One proposed rule addresses parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. It permits online platforms to request the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of parents.
Platforms could contact the individuals identified by the children to seek verification and use any commercially reasonable methods regularly employed by government or businesses to confirm parents’ identities and ages.
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The law has sparked constitutional concerns among First Amendment and tech-industry groups, setting the stage for potential legal battles. For instance, the group NetChoice has criticized the age-verification requirements, arguing they will compel users to “forfeit their anonymity.”
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